Latest / Between the Flags / From Sheep Stations to Racetracks — An eventing life on Jess Rae time
Transcript
- fiona: G'day legends and welcome to Between the Flags, your Aussie eventing chat show. We'll bring you honest conversations, expert insights, and a bit of cheeky fun from the riders, the coaches, and even those amazing folks shaping our sport in Australia and beyond. Whether you're a young rider chasing your first star-class start, a parent, a horse owner who lives and breathes eventing, between the flags is your go-to chat show. Ride along with Prue Barrett and Fiona Hughes. Stirrups up, let's go of Inting. prue: Hi Phoe, how you doing? fiona: amazing Prue. prue: same as always then. Okay, so we've got an exciting guest today. Probably I don't think it Jess: you prue: would be too much to say one of our most popular riders on the New South Wales eventing circuit. I'm not sure if anyone can guess yet, but it is the lovely Jess Ray. So Welcome Jess to the show and I'm going to give a little bit of an introduction for you, Jess, which may make you squirm a little bit. Here we go. Jess actually grew up in central western New South Wales on a large property and found the love of horses very early on in her life. Horses were always part of the family and Jess had a reputation for being able to ride the tricky ones right from the start. Jess attended Neggs in Armadale and For her high school years on an academic scholarship. During her high school years, she had attended clinics with Gordon Bishop at Castlis, organised by Winx Armstrong. Gordon recognised the talent in Jess and after she had left school offered her a job in his breaking in business while he was based at the Equestrian Centre at Lochenvar. In more recent years, though, Jess has been involved in the racing industry. Jess was based at Bimberdeen Park with Shane and Nicky Rose and quickly became extremely valuable, managing the enormous numbers of breakers and pre-training horses there. Since then, Jess has been based on the central coast of New South Wales, riding track work at Wyong Race Course, which has led her to running her own pre-training business. Jess actually started riding at FEI level in 2007 and rode her first four-star horse on plenary indulgence in 2012. Jess has bred her own horses and produced horses to four star level. The one that would be most recognisable to people would be Rascal, who gave Jess her first Australian team adventure in Taupo, New Zealand in 2019. Since then, Jess has been reserved for world championships in Britoni in 2024 on Fifth Avenue, and now has bred and produced another horse to four star named Chloe. Jess is an EA registered coach and has carved out a very successful career in the horse industry. Welcome to the show, J Ray. Jess: Thanks very much, Pru. It did make me squirm a little bit listening to that, but prue: Mm-hmm. Jess: I'm excited to be here. I've been listening to your podcast and yeah, I enjoy these things. So I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me. fiona: Yeah. prue: It's great. Thank you. fiona: So Jess, let's wind back the clock. Right back. Picture a freckle faced kid galloping up and down a sheep property back in central west New South Wales. Horses are already a big part of your life. Did that kid imagine she'd grow up to ride horses for a living and one day wear the Oz Team colours, or back then was it just simply galloping around on horses and having fun? Jess: Look, to be honest, I think from a really young age, this was all I wanted to do. I used to read Jill Rolton's book, Mark Todd's book, I really like from quite a young age, thought eventing was also a great thing to do. We certainly we were really lucky growing up. had a farm, we had ponies. Mum and dad were very supportive of our riding. We were pretty wild and But I always, I loved the idea of competing and yeah, I guess I was that kid that always wanted to go to the Olympics or ride at a high level. fiona: Haha. I know your mum and dad got all you kids into writing and they're still cheering you on today. We'd love to hear some stories from those early days, J Ray. Jess: was a really brave kid. I was really gutsy when I was young and I did actually normally get all the feral ponies or the ones that my brother and sister couldn't ride. My parents, and I don't understand how this happened because my mum was horsey, but they bought for me when I was four years old an unbroken pony who was four years old. fiona: Ha ha Jess: Luckily, I had another pony who was amazing that I learnt to ride on. But then they sent this little pony off to get broken in and it came back and I think as a six year old off I went on this freshly broken pony. And fiona: Mm-hmm. Jess: she did whatever she wanted basically. It was pretty common for me to be bolting back home from the back paddock and we'd take her to pony club. She wouldn't jump a single jump I pointed her at. time I didn't care I was actually having a great time and I didn't care that she bolted all the time fiona: Ha ha ha. Jess: But that was that was me as a kid. we used to, we had this old pony club cross country course out at Hargraves. And actually there's the Armstrong Girls will remember it as well. And it was pretty wild and pretty old school. And we used to go out there and train sometimes. And I remember quite clearly there was this water jump that it was built off the edge of a dam. And so my job when we went to train there was to be the first one to jump in and just see how deep the dam was. And fiona: Ha ha ha Jess: nine times out of 10, you'd end up swimming out of there. fiona: Ha ha Jess: But I was the one they always sent first. And fiona: Yeah. Jess: I did some terrible things to my ponies. Like I was obsessed with The Man from Snowy River. I used to watch it every weekend. So I'd go out on the pony and I'd try and find the steepest hill I could and gallop down it. And this was a, you know, I don't know how mum and dad let us just go out on our ponies. They clearly had no idea what we were doing. you know, things like we'd find the biggest log we could on the property and riding a little pony and, you know, this log might be a metre 10, which was way, way, way bigger than I was capable of jumping. And I would... set it as my goal to get this pony over this log. And it might stop 27 times, but if I managed to climb over it once that day, I was happy and I went home really happy that I'd got over that log. that's just, fiona: Ha ha. Jess: you know, it's crazy now looking back some of the things you did, but I obviously know a lot more now, but yeah, I I loved being out on the farm, riding the horses and having a good time. fiona: And how did mum and dad feel, you know, sort of when you thought, you know, I reckon this is what I'm gonna do for a job? Jess: Well, I think they were a little bit concerned in the early days. did actually, I got into uni and I deferred for a year and, know, I'd, yeah, exactly. fiona: That that old chestnut. Jess: And I'd sort of, I was on an academic scholarship, which was funny because I really put pretty minimal effort into my schooling. But I managed to get through and I actually did okay in the end. But when I finished year 12, I just thought there is no way I am going back to studying right now. It is the last thing I want to do. And as Prue mentioned, we'd had this connection with, mum and dad were good friends with Winx and Cam Armstrong and we grew up a little bit with the Armstrong girls and Winx was really good to us and she'd always. organised lessons and they taught us a lot. Those girls were my idols growing up. know, Mum would say, did you see how Emma was cleaning her saddle in between her classes? But we, know, Wynx really, she looked after us and we learned a lot from them and she used to organise these holiday camps and we'd go over to their place and Gordon was one of the people who'd come and teach us. And so I'd... met Gordon and I was having some lessons with him and he said, you know, why don't you come and work for me at, he was at Lock and Bar at the time at Heath and Rozzie's. And I thought, great, that sounds like a really good thing to do because there's no way I'm going back to school. so, yeah, so I think mum and dad, when I said, well, this is what I'm going to do for a year. And, you know, I think they probably saw it coming, but I said, now look, I'm going to go and live there and I'm going to work and I'm going to get paid $100 a week and I'm going to go eventing and I think they thought, go to uni at the end of this year. But anyway, off I went and loved it and got to the end of the year and I thought, I don't really want to go back to uni and so I stayed on and did another year with Gordon. And it was fiona: Yeah. Jess: a really, really great starting point for me. fiona: what do you think that y your other career may have been instead of instead of horses at the time? Jess: Well, I actually think about that a lot these days too. No, was, I mean, I was at school, I was very good at English and I could, you know, manage to write a whole lot of nothing about something. and I, you know, I sort of, love sport, like I love all sport. I, I was interested in sport, but I actually deferred a communications degree. And I think I was thinking along the lines of getting into some. some sort of sport journalism or, yeah, well, these days, yeah, maybe not fiona: Podcasting. Jess: back then, but, you know, something like that would have interested me. And it still probably does. I just, I just wasn't a good student. I didn't want to study. fiona: Now you've really had some super horses, J. Ray, as Prue mentioned kicking off your FEI journey back in two thousand and seven. Talk to us about those early times Jess: Well, for starters, that makes me feel really old, but I am. So, well, Fee, you know a fair bit about this story, actually. So Fee rang me and she said, I've got this horse The owner needs to sell it. It's done three star. It had done three star with Sam Lyle and a few other, I think Joe Paget rode him. There was a few people who had ridden him. Rob Palm at one point. And she said, but it's, it's not a horse for a kid. Like I can't sell it to a kid And I was like, okay. So, you know, it's advertised for 20,000. was thinking, mate, I get paid a hundred dollars a week. Where's this money coming from? Anyway, she said, but I think you'll be able to talk the owner down, Just try it. Just try it. And I thought, right, I'll take it and I'll try it. So anyway, Indy came along and at the time, know, Indy had so many problems, but fiona: Yeah. Jess: I was 20 years old. I'd, you know, I'd had a couple of horses that I jumped a metre on, not much more. I didn't have much. And I thought, how cool is this? Like I just jumped a metre 20. And nevermind the fact that he had. absolutely no breaks or he was half mad or, a bit lame sometimes too. I, you know, I just thought, wow, how cool is this? So anyway, I actually managed to buy him for $2,000 and off we went. you know, I'm he, like I said, Indy had a lot of problems. He was he was very hot. He was very strong. Had a quite a few scary cross-country moments where I was galloping pretty fast with zero breaks at some large obstacles, but he took me from having done next to nothing to going around four star and, you know, fairly successfully, I would say. Like he did a great job. He would have jumped the moon if you asked him. fiona: Yeah, yeah. Jess: So he was an amazing first horse and he did teach me a lot about. being safe and staying alive cross country because if I didn't have control, he would have just kept running at the jumps. So grateful to you, Fee, for that one. And a lot of... fiona: And I d Yeah, yeah. And he wasn't that he wasn't that far off doing your first five star on, only he started that, you know, bit of limping thing, you know. He was you were knocking on the door. Jess: Well, between the limping, the limping and Brett Jones, I don't know if you know about that story. So I was actually entered in the five star at Adelaide one year and two weeks out from the event, Vicki Burgess rang me and said, Jess, I've got some bad news. You're actually not qualified. I said, you're kidding. Two weeks out. She said, no, you're actually short a, you know, a four star run. And so we went through all the places we could possibly get one in the next two weeks and it just wasn't possible. But to this day, and I don't let Brett forget about it, I'd actually had a run at Camden leading into Adelaide and I maintained that I jumped the fence, but Brett gave me a 20 for jumping outside of the flags. And without that 20, I would have had my qualifier and I would have gone to Adelaide. But I do also say to Brett, you might have saved my life because India at five star level might have been just a bit too much. fiona: Well it was a it was a fabulous goal to have achieved with with you know Mr Rando himself plenary indulgence, wasn't it? Like he he definitely Jess: Yeah. fiona: was a funky sort of a horse that that I thought I've got to find a writer that would suit him and be able to put up with all of his quirks and and different sorts of things about him and and lucky for me I think or lucky for Indy that you were the girl for the job. Jess: Think lucky lucky for both of us. fiona: Yeah, for sure. Jess: Ugh. fiona: Do you wanna tell us now that we've s discussed Indy and his weirdowness, do you wanna tell us a favorite horse or even a favorite event memory from back in those days? Jess: with Indy. gosh, fiona: No, no, not with indie. It doesn't have to be specifically indie. Jess: because there was some wild ones. I mean, so a favourite horse. think, look, I'm super grateful to all the horses that I've had at four star level because I really feel like they've all taught me so much. But I suppose one that stands out for me and probably for most people is Rascal. So Rascal. It's a great story because he was the first horse I bred. I bought it. It actually, from the beginning, it's a great story. There was an ad, it might've been on, I don't even know if we had Facebook back then, but there was an ad for a, for a broodmare thousand dollars from, and she was unbroken, you know, minimal handling and she'd been an orphan, but she had, you know, these lines that we love back then. Salute, loot and all. All of that. And she was actually owned by Nicola Gilbert, who I'm not sure if you guys know owns Sam Wood's horse, SS8 count. fiona: Mm, mm, yeah. Jess: anyway, so I decided to go on, you know, and I was at Heath and Rozzie's and they were, you know, breed horses, breed horses. You've got to be breeding. So I thought, right, I'm going to go and buy this broodmare. And on the day that, you know, my parents actually helped me go and pick her up and Nick couldn't be there. So. She just said, look, she's in this paddock, leave the thousand dollars in the horse float in the paddock and off you go. So we went and picked up this mare. She's such a weirdo. And anyway, we got back to the lock and bar in the centre. We couldn't get her off the float. She wouldn't back off the float. Like fiona: Mm. Jess: could not get her off the float. So, you know, Gordon came and helped. I think we spent an hour trying to get this horse off the float. Anyway, fiona: Yeah. Jess: fast forward. managed to get her in foal to regard him well. And then we had Rascal. And so he was the first horse I ever bred. He was super, super quirky from the start, just an absolute weirdo. And when it came time to break him in, I thought, well, I'll have a go at this. And, you know, at the time I didn't have a round yard or anything. And Rascal used to like, you couldn't catch him. was difficult to catch, but If he got stuck in a corner, he'd just jump out of the paddock. So it just was battle fiona: Sorry about that. Jess: after battle with him. And then he learned that, you know, even when you had him on a lead, if he turned and went the other way quickly enough, you couldn't hold onto him. So I just spent a lot of time chasing rascal around the property, jumping fences. And when I finally got a roller on him, he barked like you wouldn't believe and like really barked. I think at that point when he was barking and jumping fences, I thought, I'm a bit out of my depth here. So I sent fiona: Ha Jess: him off to Barry Munt actually, who was, you know, I'm sure you guys remember Barry, fantastic show jumper. fiona: Yeah, of course. I do. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jess: And Barry, Barry did a really great job with him. He had him for about, I think he had him for 10 weeks. And then I went and rode him and he said, now, whatever you do, you lunge this horse before you get on it. And anyway, To this day, Rascal is incredibly cold-backed. If he came in after a spell, I would never get on him without lunging him. He was a very difficult young horse. He was very spooky. He was actually like, I want to say he had zero talent in the beginning. Like the only reason I kept going with him was because I thought, like I cannot sell this horse. He wasn't much of a jumper. He always moved well. But anyway, I persevered and he was always very competitive on the flat. And over time, you know, the jumping came and he like, I think most people probably don't realise just how tough and stoic he was in the end. He, you know, I think he got to four star relatively quickly, probably quicker than he should have because I had to iron out a few problems along the way. But I think as a nine-year-old, he was doing four-star. And I think as an 11-year-old, he pulled up a little sore after a three-day event at Melbourne. And I thought, okay, it's not ideal. And we looked into it, and he had a bit of spurring in his fetlocks. so anyway, he then, you know, he then continued on until he was 18. And... He'd always had bad wind. He ended up having two wind ops along the way. He, by the end of his career, he was there purely because he wanted to be there. he was so physically compromised and he just wanted to be there, wanted to do the job and he would just do anything he could to, to do that job. He'd still spook at the bloody flowers in the corner of the dressage arena. But if he, if he could find a way to jump clear or if he could find a way to get over the cross country jumps, he'd do it. you know, sadly, the last time I brought him back into work, you know, in his body, he just felt old and creaky. And I thought, mate, I know you want to do this, but I don't think I can do this to you anymore. And fiona: Yeah, yeah. Jess: so that was really hard because, you know, you've got this horse that wants to be involved, but to get him to four star level again, I just thought this is too much. He was an amazing horse. took me, got me on my first Australian team and we went over to Taupo. It was a disaster for everyone. But what a great experience. And, you know, he, I've completed many four stars with him. He was always, you know, often in the placings and yeah, just a fantastic horse for me and for my career. fiona: And even you mentioned there talking about Barry Munt and of course d dare we call her your groom, but Laura, Jess: yeah. fiona: she was one of one of your team and and what a great thing to have with Rascal In the you Jess: Yeah. fiona: know, in the making of that story. Jess: Absolutely. She was amazing. Laura worked for fiona: Yeah, she was. Jess: me for three years when she left school and she, she was just such a fantastic person to have around. She was really good with Rascal. He was not the easiest horse to deal with on the ground. There'd be many times when I'd see him carting her off across a paddock somewhere and, but she loved him as much as I did. it was, you know, it was so good to be able to share that experience in Taupo with her and. We're great friends to this day. She actually dropped off her young horse to me today to ride while she's overseas. So, she was a wonderful person to have around and I'm grateful for her friendship still. fiona: Now, talking about all of that sort of side of it, what is it about a vinting that still gets you out of bed in the morning and w makes you want to keep chasing that next goal? Jess: Well, Fee, I'll tell you what, my alarm goes off at 2.50 in the morning and not much makes me want to get out of bed at that time. fiona: But that's that's definitely not sort of that's kind of not really about eventing, is it? That's more about what you have to do to enjoy eventing, you have to earn a living. So Jess: That's exactly right. Look, I think, you know, I do think about this a lot and I, you know, I've had the last four years haven't been great for me. I've had a lot of things go wrong with horses and, you know, it's just sort of feels like, you know, when it's starting to get back together, it falls apart again. And that's the sport and that's just how it goes and horses. But I think, you know, You have got to love it. It's, it's a really hard sport and it's a really hard life and you've got to love it. And it's got to be worth getting out of bed for. And I think for me, it's, I've got to have horses I enjoy riding and you know, like I love bringing along the young horses, but at the end of the day, we want to be riding at four star five star level. Don't we? So, you know, I think it's having a horse that you enjoy and I obviously still love the sport because I'm still trying to find ways to make it happen. fiona: Yeah. And in in so doing, you've had a you know, more than one opportunity w to wear the Aussie flag at Taupo and then twenty twenty two a trip to France and Ireland and travelling overseas and team camp before Weg at Pretoni and so on. Do you think it do you think there's a bit of unfinished business there? Jess: absolutely. And I'll tell you what, I'm grateful we don't have an expiry date of 35 years old in our sport because I'm going to need all the time I can get. No, I absolutely, I mean, I was very fortunate and another, you know, another horse that I have to mention obviously was Brooklyn or Fifth Avenue. Again, super difficult in so many ways, but she took me across to the other side of the world. And I was a reserve for Protoni. I competed in France, Ireland, England, and I was based over there for three months with the goal of competing at Poe at the end of it. And then unfortunately she got injured. So we didn't get to do that. But, it was amazing to have that experience and to see what it is like on the other side of the world. And I'd love to get back there one day. I'd love to have a horse good enough to take over there and compete at some of those events. And yeah, of course I'd love to get on a team one day. but you know, I think one of the things that I've learned along the way is there's not many of us that are actually going to get on a team really. and you've, you've got to enjoy what you're doing because it's a, it's a hard life and it's a long time and you may never actually. achieve that Olympic goal, but you've got to really enjoy what you're doing and make the most of it along the way. And that's, that's what I try to think about now. And, I want to enjoy my horses and I enjoy the competition and, know, I want to, I want to look back and think, I've, I've really loved this eventing life, not, shit, I never made it. So. fiona: Yeah. Jess: I think that's how I try to think about it a little bit these days. yeah, mean, definitely unfinished business. I'm probably not in the best spot at the moment as far as horsepower. So I'm just going to keep trying to find ways to make that happen. And yeah, absolutely. I'd love to get over there again. fiona: Yeah, great. And look, opportunities, great horses and and it all it isn't always a smooth ride. That that's absolutely, you know, that's is it horses or is it, you know, trying to be an elite level at the sport. But when things aren't going to plan, Jess, what is your mantra or what is it that Get you to pick yourself up and keep keep on keeping on. Jess: Yeah, look, I think you, you know, if you're going to survive in this sport or have any longevity, you learn resilience very quickly. You know, and it might even be as simple as you go to a show and you have a shitty show jump around or something. you know, like I always say with anyone that's with me or travels with me, or, right, you've got 10 minutes. And then after that 10 minutes, you're going to come out and you're going to, you're going to be positive and you're going to think about what you're going to do next time. And, but I look, I actually think I'm really good at that. think, you know, when, when things go wrong and they go wrong more often than they go right, you know, you, you're sad for a day or two and then you're thinking about, right, what am I going to do next? Or if it's something that went wrong at a show, right, what am I going to do differently? What do I need to train? What's my plan going forward? But yeah, think it's important to think about what went wrong or think about what you can do better, but I think you've then got to move on and start thinking about what's coming next. fiona: Yeah, for sure. I think that's that's absolutely what you do learn at at a very the the beginnings of your career of of keeping on, keeping on. Jess: also I don't know if I'm lucky or if I make it happen a little bit, but I try to have other things in my life as well. And like, you know, I'm exhausted 98 % of the time from what I try to do, but you know, I've got some great friends around here. do things like we play Oz tag at the moment where we play tennis on a Monday and then go to the pub. go for dinners. Like I always try to play a sport. I, I I to pilates, I go to a PT session once a week. Like I try to have lots of other things going on as well. So that, you know, like obviously the horses is my main thing, but I, you know, I have other things that I enjoy in my life as well. fiona: Yeah, well rounded. Yeah. Do you think your definition of success in a venting has changed as as you've progressed through your career? Jess: My definition of success, I think I'm probably a little bit more realistic about it than I was when I was 20 years old. think back then it was, know, I was at the centre, so I was being fed the Olympic dream. But I fiona: Yeah. Jess: think it, you know, I think it was all I cared about was riding horses and, you know, like there was probably no forward thinking about how you're actually going to make this work for the rest of your life. But. I just wanted to get horses, jump bigger jumps, do this. Whereas over the years, it's like it's a tough sport and it's expensive. That's the reality. And so over the years, I've had to think a little bit more about how do I actually, you know, survive in this sport and how can I fund it? And, you know, if I want to keep doing it, what are the things I need to do? And that's as simple as, maybe looking after your body and, or talking to people, trying to get people involved in owning horses. And, you know, like I work in the racing industry at the moment and a lot of event is do actually, but, you know, I think that's one thing I would probably say now to 18 year old me is have a little bit of a thought about how you're going to do this going forward because. Yeah, it's tough and you need to have a lot of money and a lot of support. So I think the goals are probably still the same, but I've just got a little bit more of a realistic approach to how I need to do things. fiona: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, all of those things make me think, what's the what's the day in the life of J. Ray these days? talk us through and you've already alluded to the fact of getting up at stupid o'clock in the morning. Give us give us that give us our timelines there, J. Ray. Jess: Well, so I, ride at the race track in the morning. So my alarm goes off at 2.50. I don't always get up at 2.50, but I'm in there on my first horse at 3.40. And then I ride in the ride in there from 3.40 to 8.30, the track shuts at 8.30. And then like every day is different for me, but normally I head out to the property where I have some pre-trainers and that's something that I've started doing earlier this year was taking some of my own pre-trainers and I've been really enjoying that. I mostly do work just for the trainers that I ride for in a while. But I'm going to try to grow it a little bit. so that sort of takes up most of my morning probably through to about one o'clock. Then I ride my own horses or I teach lessons or whatever other things I need to do. mean, most days, daylight savings kills me too because I find things to do until it's dark. But yeah, the days are long, but you talk to anyone who does this, their days are long. But I try to fit as much as I can in. fiona: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course that's not necessarily the part of our lives or or days that people don't see on social media, isn't it? That's the genuine slog of the long hours and and how many horses you probably ride what fifteen or twenty horses at the at the track between yeah. So Jess: At the track, yeah. The most I would ride in a day would be close to 30, but I'd say most days I'd probably ride between 20, 25. That's all day, not just the racetrack, but yeah, yeah. I think fiona: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Jess: too, thing that I've, I suppose become good at or had to learn, or I ride my horses at the end of the day when I've been up for, 12 hours and I'm tired and I've, well, one, my patience is a lot better. And two, you know, you've just got to recognise sometimes, like if I'm really, like really tired or I'm feeling a little like I'm lacking energy and, you know, it's actually been important to me to recognise, okay, I'm, you know, especially writing, you know, something like Chloe, who's a little tricky and right, I need to. be calm or I need to go and, find something a little bit easier to do with her today and, and it's it's almost a shame in a way that you feel like you have to compromise like that. But for the long-term training, I've found it's really important to recognise when, I might not be completely giving it my all and yeah, and train accordingly. fiona: Yeah. Yeah. And look, as you say, it's a the physical and the mental side of the sport is always once you get a little bit older and a bit further through your career it's it becomes more in the forefront of your mind of how to cope with all of those things, isn't it? Jess: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I've been really lucky to this day. I haven't had any, you know, really serious falls off a horse or, but I'm pretty conscious of looking after my body and I try to do what I can. You know, I like being fit. like playing sport and the worst injury I've had was a knee reconstruction thanks to Shane Rose. an Oztag injury. But again, I feel really lucky with that because I was very diligent with my rehab. had a great surgeon and it doesn't give me any trouble. So, you know, I do feel fortunate that I don't have any real problems with my body, but I also recognise I need to keep it that way for a long time. fiona: Yeah, yeah. Well, Jess, I think we've pretty much covered your your eventing career and and also now we've understood what it is that you do in your other time whilst you're not riding eventers. You've got a very incredibly successful gig going on on in the racing industry. So we We've stepped over into the time where we ask you the cool down questions. Now, you've just ruined one of my cooldown questions because yeah, Jess: Sorry about that. fiona: one of my cooldown questions was it was alluding to your fabulous injury that stopped you from riding for quite some time which was do you have another pastime that may be less dangerous than a vinting that you love? Jess: Yes, well, yeah, it was a funny story that it was it was an Oz tag injury and you know, it was basically Shane and I being competitive and trying to get the same tag and ran into each other and I, know, Shane's like hitting a brick wall, it turns out. And I came off second best. But I will fiona: Yeah. Jess: say through all of that, it was it was not a not a fun time. For someone that's very active, it wasn't a fun time, but I was weirdly positive about the whole thing, but I was very lucky to be at Bimberdene at the time and have all of those guys around me. even when I couldn't do much, I could do paperwork or get on a lawnmower or, they made me feel like I could be useful. And that's kind of what got me through that time when I couldn't ride horses. Even though I love bringing up the fact that it was Shane that injured me, I am actually very grateful to Shane and Nikki and for the time that I had there because they were fantastic to me and they're still really great friends. fiona: Absolutely. it's a definitely a family feels out there at Bemberdeen and and maybe there's members of the family that may be, you know, or a little bit random in in how they fit into the family, but they but Nikki and Shane do make everybody feel part of the team, that's for sure. Now Jess: That's it. fiona: we're gonna move on to our next cool down question, Jess. Jess: Hmm. fiona: We've talked we've got to talk about Jess time. Is it it is it actually a recogni Jess: wow, who told you that? Or did you come up with that? fiona: I've come up with this? Is it actually a recognized time zone? Or d do the rest of us need to just accept when you say you'll be somewhere at about ten o'clock we should expect you about ten ish short, ten thirty ish short. Jess: Okay, so this is a genuine problem, but fiona: I know! Jess: I just want to explain that it's not because I'm sitting around doing nothing. It's because I have this like misconception of how long things are going to take. So when I think, right, I need to be at this place at 1030, okay, I can get on the lawnmower for 10 minutes and do that bit before I leave, or I can quickly ride that horse. And I just always end up fiona: Or I can quickly have a shower before I hop on the podcast tonight. How long how long do I have? Yeah. Jess: Yes, well. So I just have this problem where I, you know, I've I've got all these things I want to do and I think I can fit that in. can fit that in. It turns out I probably can't fit that in and I should have just gone, you know, without trying to fit in the extra things. But anyway, I want to say that's why I'm always late. But I also want to say that I think I'm getting slightly better at managing my time. fiona: And I think that, attending Squad School and Fiona putting a little bit of pressure on you to be there on time may be part of that solution, you think? Jess: I think, yeah, but I'm also one of those people that gets when they get pressured too much, they jack up. So you've got to be a little bit careful with the amount of pressure there. But no, I appreciate that you try to encourage fiona: now I'm Jess: me to be more punctual. You fiona: dear. Jess time. Apparently. It's like f it's like Fiji time. Jess: My friends around here actually, we have a group chat, you know, if we're going to dinner or we're playing sport or something and they say, all right, so we'll meet at six o'clock. That's 5.45 for you Jess, always. And I actually hate it. I fiona: Exactly. Jess: hate that I have this reputation and I don't want to be the late person, but I just do it all the time. fiona: Mm-hmm. Okay. We can workshop that one at another stage. I've I've got a psychologist I can recommend for you. okay, Jess: dear. fiona: Jess. We've just got one last cool down question for you that we need to investigate. You have this extraordinary ability to make your eyebrows go up and down like they're having a conversation of their own. Here's the thing, do you actually know that you're doing it? Jess: Who said that? You fiona: Me? Jess: came up with... No, it's actually a bit of a thing. My right eyebrow is really rogue. It goes up. fiona: Yes! I've seen it! Jess: It goes up more than the other one. And I don't know why. fiona: Yeah, I know! Jess: It just does its own little thing. And the only thing fiona: No, it's Jess: I can say about to fix this is probably more Botox. That's probably the only... fiona: No, don't fix it. It's like it's like a little statement of its own and it goes right up and I l and I'm going, Jess: It does. No, I know. It's just the right one. fiona: Hmm. And apparently Laura, your sister, said that you practice in front of the mirror, but maybe that's not a thing. Jess: no, I would have given up on that years ago. as you get older you care less? fiona: Yeah, I've I'm I'm in that. Yeah I'm in that right now. Well, Prue, it's been a good chat, hasn't it? prue: Yeah, that's great. That's great. I'm actually I fiona: Yeah. prue: really resonate with the Jess time. I think that's great. I think that's something Jess: Thank you, Drew. prue: I think often often when I see Jess it's not hello. It's sorry. Sorry. I was on time and then and then and then fiona: And then prue: I was on time and then it was so that was so that actually that's Jess: huh. prue: a that is actually great. Jess: gonna say, don't take it personally either of you two because I can be late for everyone, not just you guys. fiona: no, we know No. prue: No, I don't take it personally. I I Jess: Yeah. prue: don't take it personally at all. Do you not know my family? fiona: Ha ha prue: that's great. The eyebrows are th I'm now you I'm gonna be obsessed now on the eyebrow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for Yeah. Yeah. Well done, Fee. fiona: No, you need to watch. It's quite quirky and it's like it one goes like Jess: no, everyone's going to be looking at my eyebrows now. I better get them done before I go somewhere. prue: Hmm. fiona: dee Yeah, no it's not the length of the hairs, it's just the shape. prue: Ha fiona: that's that's really cool. All right, Jess. It's been seriously great fun tonight having you on between the flags prue: No, that was great. Very, very enjoyable. Thanks, Jess. Jess: Thanks for having me guys, I've really enjoyed it. fiona: Yeah, great fun. Thanks for riding along with us. We hope you enjoyed the show. Catch you next time between the flags.